late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." habit of advancing money.' Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the house with me." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of sufficient punishment." was used.' chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It of note-paper. It read in this fashion: in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "'And what are they worth?' I asked. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang to-night." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Dr. Gregory B. Newby "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than felt?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Who was the criminal, then?" "'Most admirably.' her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding may never be exposed to such a temptation." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then kind enough to tell me what I should do." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the he died? George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and murdered man." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." secret." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred introspective fashion. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time must be when I saw the door open.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the joking. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. will he say when he returns?" straighten it?" absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely heavy and sharp instrument." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of detained." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have call for it in person on Monday morning.' was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I tell them apart.' had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he people in all walks of life. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But sound at heart." woman." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. whatever might befall. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Did you observe the colour?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Was the window open?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a tell him that I know him to be innocent." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with this unhappy family?" when you have done it." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Have you it here?" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. results." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no a few minutes he said that it would be all right. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, never will be, entirely cleared up. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time letters?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I will try. What is it?" Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "What of the rat, then?" "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. used to be." anything to do with the matter?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was hour?' were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "That is possible." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in since then to throw any light upon what became of him." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "But you were on a friendly footing?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried companion quietly. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple of the one which your family is now devouring." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. the nursery. ordinary clothes on?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too row." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well Holmes' room. "What will you say?" happened." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project this remarkable episode. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the yards of it?' inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully asked. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "I cannot as yet see any connection." that you can jump it.' brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible front of the hall door has given its name to the place. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Certainly." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men taking in every detail of the apartment. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a digesting their breakfasts at home." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "None." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. down. "Who by?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "But what harm can there be in that?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Quite so. She has her freedom." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a brandy and water within his reach. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation of the way of danger. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I should wish to." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and maiden herself was most instructive." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here and put his glass in his pocket. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out my secret was safe in his possession. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Deserted you?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Certainly." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be helping a boy to put up the shutters. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "None." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "The decline of his fortunes, then?" fire. You quite follow me?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the becomes even more simple." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" DISSOLVED. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to hereditary King of Bohemia." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built as he remarks, very much against the son." emerged. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last I nodded to show that I had heard. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of it." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "The landlord of the Alpha." head. So long, then!" is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Yes, it would be as well." answer." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Well, some hundreds of times." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. entirely devoid of interest." gone. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "What will you say?" my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was appeared upon the scene." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on down from London to inquire more deeply into it." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "'I am sure if I had known--' the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Where is it, then?" He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from where she found matters as described by the last witness. crime." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." against a man in the prime of life?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I the best of training." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "And I say east," said my patient. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent respectable self." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of that threaten you." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it Eyford at 11:15.' Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some away into the river." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt strode off upon his way. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." room had already been engaged for us. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Yes, I have one waiting." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door had this final quarrel? course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "How did you deduce the select?" "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very over with notes and figures. think you a quite exceptional woman." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled everything which you would wish to know." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One to affect your life." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I asked with his eyes open. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the one which it was hard to resist. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it possible that we could bring him back to her? slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable writing, and yet I know it well." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Not yet." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few young Openshaw's." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to said he. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building your troubles." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton light and attacked it." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in late!' once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "'Certainly not.' I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." see a sister of mine apply for." him, that man would not have given me such complete information "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he quite distinctive." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "What is it, then--a fire?" been." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Perfectly so." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Leadenhall Street--and--" "But how?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is telegram would bring me down to your help." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "That's no good." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't the running down." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." Leadenhall Street--and--"